Fluffy Shorts with Fear and Sadness
by ScrabbledeeBook
Summary: I'm not gonna lie, this is a collection of mindless fluff; nothing but a series of one-shots shamelessly dedicated to the least used pairing in all of Inside Out: Nervous Tears (my OTP)! Intelligent storytelling? Probably not. Creative plots? I doubt it. Pure fanservice in the form of giving you warm, fuzzy feelings? Without a doubt! NOT intended to be romantic.
1. Riley's Eleventh Birthday

**REGARDING REVIEWS:**

 **Please review if you feel so inclined; that is awesome (I'm happy if you do, and I'm fine with it if you don't), but ki** **ndly refrain from using the review section as a way of self-advertising , please; if you liked (or, heh, hated) this enough to leave a review, that should be sufficient. If you want to talk about your own fanfics, let's not beat around the bush: just straight-up PM me with a message saying so, and I'll see what I can do there.**

 **Now, onto the mindless drivel!**

* * *

Riley Andersen jumped out of bed the instant her eyes were open. A grin exploded across her mouth. She flung off her nightclothes and was in her favorite outfit before scarcely a minute had passed. She then scurried to the kitchen, inhaled a bowl of cereal, and darted into the restroom to brush her teeth. Altogether, she was ready for the day in ten minutes flat, wile her parents were just waking up. She made her way back to her bedroom, bursting at the seams with the excitement and energy that only a ten (or, as of today, _eleven_ ) year old could muster. And why not? Today was _the_ day she had been anticipating all month; her birthday! So much had been planned for that day, too - cake, presents, games, friends, more cake! She couldn't control her giddy feelings.

No, really, she couldn't.

In that girl's mind, Joy was at the console pressing button after button, turning knobs, pulling levers, warming its surface in her signature golden light. As she went to work, merrily humming to herself, it seemed that she was glowing even more than usual. With a beam brighter than the sun, she squealed in delight. "I can't wait!" she cried out, "We're gonna be eleven! I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!" Spinning a knob one more time, she twirled away from the console, snatching up a nearby Anger from off of his chair and spinning him around in a klutzy improvised dance.

"Isn't this great?!" Joy yelled, smile only seeming to grow.

"Let go!" was the reply. Joy, taking that as a "yes," flung the little red brick right back into his chair, though he landed upside down. As his peer jumped back to the console, spouting off more exciting phrases, Anger flipped himself back with a grunt. He opened his paper. It was littered with headlines such as, " _Today we're 11_!" and " _Happy 11th anniversary, readers_!" and " _What's ten plus one? Answer on page_..." Upon seeing that the news had caught a birthday fever, Anger shrugged his shoulders and folded it up, tucking it neatly under his chair. He was excited, of course. All the emotions were; this day brought so much entertainment and all-around fun each year, that they couldn't help but anticipate it. Didn't change the fact that he wasn't in the mood to read paragraph after paragraph of mindless drivel.

Anger blinked, then spared a glance at the pitiful creature lurking behind him. _'Well,_ almost _all of us are excited,'_ he thought. "Sadness," he said tersely, scrambling to reach for his newspaper in hopes that-

"H-H-Hi, Anger," she said.

He mentally screamed. But outwardly, a deep breath kept him calm.

"Hi," he spoke, remembering Joy's advice on being polite (he'd been trying to work on that). But it wasn't easy - especially with Sadness. Not that she was particularly hard to get along with or anything, it's just... well, she's one of those people you don't really know how to talk to without setting them off... and that means a _lot_ , coming from the living embodiment of rage. "I, um... What's up?"

"Oh, just - it's Riley's Birthday today," she said shyly.

See? Like that! Should he be sarcastic about how she's pointing out the obvious? Should he laugh (if she was trying to be funny by pointing out the obvious)? Should he change subject? What?! He cleared his throat, still reaching for the paper, then settled on, "Uh, sure is! Eleven years old. It's great. Terrific, in fact."

"Yeah..."

 _'I swear to our dead Aunt Jemiah, you couldn't find a quicker way to make this awkward, could you, you little blue ball of-'_ but that thought was cut short with a relieved grin; he'd found his paper. He quickly whipped it out from under the chair, flipped it open, and dove right into a particularly repetitive block of inane rambling about being 11 years old. Hopefully it would send a crystal clear message: "Go bug someone else."

But he read and he read, and he read some more, yet didn't feel Sadness's eyes move away. Instead, they shifted locations from his back to his front. He flipped the top of the page down, glaring over it at the two blue circles looking timidly at him. _'Oh, great, now what?! Should I ask her how she's doing? Should I just get Joy? But I don't wanna ruin Joy's fun by dragging her down!'_ He cleared his throat once more.

"I thought you were done with the paper?" Sadness asked, almost inaudibly.

"Oh! Uh... uh, well- uh... nope! I actually, uh..."

"Nevermind..." And with that, she drooped off across the room, back hunched and eyes downcast. _'See?'_ Anger thought to himself, _'There's the other problem with her! Is she actually upset, or feeling just normal? They look the same with her!'_ But he got what he want - Sadness not bugging him. So he shrugged back to the paper, his sole defense against awkward conversations. Hopefully more interesting articles would pop up as the day progressed.

And new events _did_ happen throughout the day, though all were of a Joyful nature; friends came over to visit, presents were opened, and a big birthday cake was eaten after Riley made a wish. After that, it was off to watch a hockey game with her friends, topped off by a fun-filled hour at the movies before returning home. Even then, the partying wasn't over! No, indeed - it was just starting! Meg had stayed behind to stay the night, and the two of them were busy coming up with things they wanted to do that night.

Sleeping, by the way, wasn't on the sleepover's to-do list.

"We're gonna do it!" Joy yelled, "We're gonna pull an all-nighter! No sleep for us!" This was punctuated by another excited scream of delight. Far from sucking away her energy, all the partying and festivities had added to it throughout the day. Her coworkers weren't quite as enthusiastic, but - certainly - they were enjoying the day as much as they could. Even Sadness occasionally wore the tiniest of smiles (or, where she's concerned, "non-frowns").

They were almost all gathered around the console at the time, as Meg suggested a game of "Truth or Dare" to pass the time until their pizza rolls were done. Riley had readily accepted it; no dare was too gross for her.

"I dare you to..." Meg began, thinking hard.

Joy giggled in anticipation, while Disgust had her fingers crossed, hoping against hope that it was nothing bad. All the while, Anger had a "bring-it-on!" snarl plastered across his features.

"...lick that spoon!"

Riley looked over; there it was, in the sink, the spoon that had been used to make the cake, now covered in slimy remnants of flour and chocolate.

"Ew! No!" Disgust screamed, diving for the console. She only managed to _brush_ a button, though - Joy pushed her back, determination stuck on the happy emotion's face as she shoved the button down.

"Piece of cake!" Riley said. Meg laughed at that, unsure if Riley meant to make the pun. Either way, she laughed even harder at her friend's revolted expression as she licked that spoon.

"I can't believe you let us do that!" Disgust screamed, having just managed to press the button (for real, this time), "Why, Joy, why?"

"You can't just not accept a dare!" Joy explained, "Where's the fun in that?!"

"Well-... but-... you-... Ugh!" the green emotion slammed her hands into her face, adding, "If you need me, I'll be on the couch, trying not to _barf!_ " She made her actions match her words, stomping over indignantly and planting herself roughly on the cushions as she glared up at the others. They'd gone back to the game, completely zoned in, concentrating on giving Meg a dare sure to trump the previous one. Disgust was so lost in her own brief brooding that she didn't notice a blue figure sit down next to her. It took a small tap on her shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey, Disgust?" Sadness asked.

"Oh, uh, hi," Disgust said, then - remembering she'd been asked a question, "What, Sadness, what is it?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just, I was wondering if you... if you remembered... what I'm trying to say is that Joy-"

At the mention of Joy's name, Disgust's eyes went wide and she slammed a "shush" finger over her mouth. She used her free palm to cut off Sadness before another word could come. The green emotion quickly jerked her head over to the console, but Joy was still enthralled in the game of "Truth or Dare," and so hadn't heard Sadness's mouse of a whisper. Disgust sighed in relief, then took her hand away before explaining, "Don't you know that today's _Joy's_ birthday, too?"

"Oh, uh, yeah, actually, I mean that's kinda what I wanted to-"

"And we're getting her a present! It's a _surprise!_ "

"O-Oh, we are?" Said Sadness, now confused... and somewhat hurt, "I didn't know... Nobody told me we were gonna start celebrating birthdays..."

"Oh, uh, well... that's because, uh... you- I... How about-" But Disgust was spared from having to make up an elaborate excuse by Meg, of all people who said:

"Alright, _truth_ : Have you actually ever cried? 'Cause, like, I've never seen you cry. Ever."

That, naturally, got Sadness's attention. In fact, that got everyone's attention, and all watched intently as the scene unfolded. Had Disgust been looking, she would have seen Sadness's fingers grip and ungrip imaginary buttons and levers, so eager was to get up to that console. The chance did come, too, as Joy turned around and - quite hesitantly - asked, "Hey, uh, Sadness... do you... uh... you remember a time when you ruined- No! Not what I meant! Ahem... uh... a time, when you... made Riley cry?"

"Oh, yeah," Sadness said, "There was the time we stubbed our toe, and when we broke the vase once, and when-"

"No, no, nothing that will make Riley too upset!" Joy said, hands frantically held up in a 'stop' gesture. Suddenly, though, her eyes brightened, "Oh! I know! Last year, at our tenth birthday!"

"Oh, yeah..." Sadness smiled, "That was a good one."

Joy hummed and put in the code, and a memory came right to mind; at this time last year, Riley had cried as she tearfully said goodbye to her single-digit years, feeling quite upset that she'd never see them again. Sadness hopped off the couch with that smile still lingering, eager to move up to the console for the first time in a while.

"Oh, last year!" Riley said, "You weren't there - but I cried when I realized I was actually turning ten!"

"What?" Meg snorted, not believing it for a second, "Really?"

Riley actually chuckled. "Yeah! Oh my gosh, I was upset about saying goodbye to all the single-digit birthdays!" Her chuckle grew to a full laugh, and Meg swiftly joined in. Upset at a birthday? What a ridiculous thought!

Sadness's smile disappeared, and her shoulders slouched over once more as Joy began cracking up, giving a good yank on the lever in front of her. Sadness looked over at Anger, who was grinning ear-to-nonexistent-ear. Disgust, too, was laughing. She even jumped off the couch to get back to the console, joining in with her friends as they remembered such a silly past event.

'Crestfallen' wouldn't even come close to describing how Sadness looked; 'borderline depressed' might be more accurate. She breathed in and out, keeping herself together - she had promised Joy she wouldn't cry today, a promise that she'd miraculously managed to keep. But this certainly was pushing her limits. That was _her_ special moment with Riley! It _was_ sad that the single-digits were gone forever, like a good friend you had to say goodbye to! _'And,'_ Sadness thought, _'Even Joy had to hold back tears! But look at them now; all laughing at it as if it were a joke.'_

Nobody turned around, but had they done so, they would've seen her lips start trembling and shaking.

 _'It's cause it is,'_ Sadness decided, forcing her quivering lips to stop, _'It's cause I am a joke, and so's my job... but good thing they rescued that memory from me, I guess...'_ She looked up, just in time to see her orb go from deep blue to shimmering gold as Riley fondly laughed at her past self. She looked over, hoping she wasn't the only one who saw that... but she was. Nobody noticed, Sadness despondently pressed the button on the floor, and the memory went away, leaving her feeling empty and betrayed by everyone, including - dare she admit it - Riley herself.

Up front, as the laughter was dying down, Anger suddenly, deliberately distracted Joy. "Oh, hey! Can you get my newspaper?" he asked, "I think there's probably an article about that now, and I wanna see it."

"Okie dokie!" Joy said, skipping off back to the chair. Sadness looked at her, confused, then glanced over at Anger and Disgust, who were whispering conspiratorially.

"Is that moron done with the cake yet or not?!" Anger hissed.

"How should I know?"

"Why'd we put _him_ in charge anyway?"

"Because he'd be too scared to burn it! At least there won't be a fire like last time-"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean? At least it's not you, with your 'healthy cake' fixation-"

"Shush! Just..." Disgust rolled her eyes and groaned, then looked over and noticed Sadness staring at them. Rather than shrinking up or shutting up, she saw this as an opportunity. "Hey," she whispered, "You wanna help? Go get Fear and ask him if he's done with that cake yet!"

"Okay..." Sadness mumbled, then turned around to go to her task, nearly getting run over by a speeding gold bullet that came darting up to the console.

"Found it!" the Joy yelled, paper in hand, "It was over by the windows!"

"Oh, thanks!" Anger said, back to pretending like nothing had happened.

They all three returned to their discussion on the game of "Truth or Dare." Soon enough their voices faded to silence. Sadness skulked over to the kitchen, where Fear undoubtedly was fretting over whether or not Joy would like the cake. As she walked, she wondered if she really was all that important to Riley. After all, if her memories could be changed to happy ones just like that, why bother making them in the first place? Useless. Utterly useless. She shook her head in shame. The blue ball sighed and pushed the kitchen door open.

She was greeted by the sight of Fear, balancing a bowl of flour in one hand, a jug of milk in the other, and clutching a spoon between his teeth. His chef's hat was smeared with varying amounts of chocolate, and the floor around him had been cluttered with sugar and dough, all while the oven's top was caked with cake and frosting. He spat out the spoon as he saw her.

"Sadness!" He said in shock, "I didn't expect to see _you_ here..."

"They wanted me to go get the cake..."

"Oh."

"For Joy..."

"Y-Yeah, uh... about that-"

"Because you guys want to give her a cake for her birthday..."

Fear nervously grinned, fidgeted, and set down the items he was carrying. "Yep!" he said, "That's- uh... that was the plan, and I... I was put in charge of baking! Can you believe it? Maybe it's because those cooking lessons are finally-"

"It's 'cause you wouldn't burn it like Anger," Sadness said, not a trace of irony in her voice, "And Disgust gets too worried about health."

"Oh," said Fear in response. His shoulders drooped slightly, "Yeah, that's... that's about right."

Sadness observed the mess all around again, not commenting, just taking in the sight. "Disgust is gonna have to clean this, isn't she?"

"She - she'll probably insist she be the one to do it, yeah," Fear laughed, "That sounds like her alright!"

Uneasy silence descended down, and Fear nervously looked everywhere at once, eyes darting to each nook, cranny, and detail except Sadness's face. Why? Sadness furrowed her brows and placed a hand on her cheek, trying to think of what it could be... _'He knows I know that they forgot me,'_ she decided, _'So he's worried I'll call him out on it.'_

She sighed, then said, "So is Joy's cake ready or not?"

"Oh, yeah!" replied Fear (was that relief in his voice?), "Yes, it is! Here..." spinning around, he picked up a platter with eleven candles on it, each small yellow things perfectly arranged. They had fake flames on their tips ("No one gets hurt that way!"). The frosting was topped with a nice blue color, and the cake itself was golden. Sprinkles were dropped all around it. Altogether, it was a very nice cake.

"Wow," Sadness said, "That's nice... you didn't even mess it up much!" She looked up into his face, smiling genuinely, not even remotely picking up on the slight hurt she'd dealt out, "I bet she'll like it."

Fear's mouth turned to a stupid grin right away. "Really?" he asked, looking back at his handiwork.

"Yeah."

"Th-Thanks, S-S-S-S-Sadness," he said. She blinked. Was he starting to blush? Before she could ask, his purple body was out of the room, cake in hand. It wasn't a second before he quickly poked his face back in, still not making eye contact, and added, "Oh and b-b-by the way I did- I did- I d-d-d-didn't forget about you Sadness-s-s so happy birthday to you- to- t-to you too you have a present it's in the box b-b-b-b-b-bye!" He was off again. Soon enough, the sounds of "Happy Birthday!" echoed in from the main room, but Sadness's thoughts were far from the festivities being celebrated nearby.

She stood still a moment, puzzling out what in the world he meant, but - after several seconds of translation - the message became clear. And that made her all the more confused.

"A present for me?"

She turned around, looking past the spilled cake mix and heavy dusting of flower. Sure enough, there it was; a small blue box adorned with a nice little bow. Next to it was a note, "Sadness" written on it in big letters. She plucked it off the box, and read:

 _Sadness,_

 _Boy, this is really hard to write, heh. Mostly because I'm pretty nervous as is, but you know what? Someone's gotta say it, and it might as well be me, I guess. Not that I blame everyone else, of course, but I think - and this is absolutely 100% true - I think you're not very appreciated, or appreciated enough, or something like that._

 _Gah, I'm so bad at writing things like this!_

 _Uh, anyways, I guess... when we were discussing a present for Joy, I remembered that you were born on the same day, of course. But I figured we had a plan for you too! I mean, it made sense, but after the conversation, they didn't mention it at all. They already had two birthdays to plan for, Joy and Riley, so I guess they just forgot is all or something... uh, sorry. That was kinda rude._

 _ANYWAYS, the point is this: I know we don't always appreciate what you do... No, scratch that, we NEVER really do, but I notice._

 _Like when you made Riley cry about the single-digits last year, I remember I felt scared, too, and you crying made me realize I wasn't the only emotion who felt like that. So, that was good,! But more than that, Dad gave us a talk about growing up, and it was all because Riley was upset, and - well, I don't now, but that has to count for something, right?_

 _So, Sadness, you DO have a job. I don't know really what it is yet, but you ARE important to Riley, and to us all... or me, at least. Because when I'm scared or when Riley's scared, you feel sad, and that makes me feel not alone, y'know?_

 _Sorry, this is getting really sappy really quickly._

 _Uh, anyways, Happy Birthday, Sadness! I know it's not much, but it's all I had time to make. Here's to many more good ones in the future!_

 _-Fear_

Attached to the end was a sticky note:

 _PS - Sorry if I run out of the room or leave you alone with just the present: you know how jumpy I get. And I'd actually appreciate it if you don't bring this up again to the others... or even me. Sorry, it's just... well, you know how nervous I get, heh._

 _-Fear_

Sadness dropped the note, numb with shock. There it was; a small little box, but it was quite suddenly the most puzzling thing she'd ever seen. "Really?" she asked out loud. Her hands automatically opened the tiny present and looked in, but it took her a moment to process what she was seeing.

It was a tiny cupcake, just big enough to fit eleven small candles on it (fake ones, again, with blue paper flames). The surface of the cupcake was varying shades of blue, but Sadness knew exactly what it was supposed to represent: a blue memory orb.

A hard lump formed in the back of her throat, and her heart heated up suddenly.

She dropped to the ground, not even caring that she was sitting in a powdery, floury mess as she stared at the box - at the cupcake. Tears crept up to take a peek at the gift, too, and a smile - an actual smile - sprouted over her mouth. Sniffling, she took out the fake candles and took a bite of the cupcake. At that, her eyes widened.

"Chocolate..." she muttered (though her full mouth changed it to "Chckflmt...") She swallowed it, then - voice breaking - said, "I... love... chocola-ha-ha-aaaate!"

At which point, Sadness devolved into a blubbery puddle of tears, flopping onto the ground and only barely managing to keep the cupcake from falling to the floor.

* * *

 **There ya go! Please don't be too hard on the emotions, here; they haven't gone through their character development yet, making Sadness still a bit of an outcast, and Fear is - obviously - too easily swayed by peer pressure to be this kind to Sadness anywhere but in secret. Lol, poor guy. I can relate.**

 **Hope you have a wonderful day!**


	2. The Dream Date

**Who says brain-numbing, pointless fluff has to be from** **the POV of** **one of the ones being shipped?**

* * *

Hello! Joy, here! You know _the_ Joy, the one who makes Riley smile and fills her day with laughter and giggles and just all the best things we can think of? Yeah, that'd be me!

Things have changed a lot around here since we nearly... uh... well, since I messed up. But I won't let that get me down! I learned my lesson! We all make mistakes; we're only human, after all! Well, I guess- I guess we're emotions... but we're part of a human mind, right? So yeah, there ya go! We all make mistakes, and the point is that I learned from mine.

Poor Sadness, though. I can't believe she had to put up with so many years of me being pretty bossy. I mean, the others did, too, of course - but Sadness got it pretty bad! I'm just glad the damage wasn't too far done when I realized what I did, otherwise I'd be missing my best friend in the whole world (next to Riley, of course, but - come on - that's a given)!

Sure, things were shaky at first. We had to settle back down, sort things out, I had to get myself out of the control-freak habit (and believe me, _that_ wasn't easy!), not to mention the others had to finally start appreciating Sadness the way I learned to, and we had to - more than once - sit down  & have a talk about why we were each important and what Sadness's job is and blah blah blah you probably don't want to be bored with all that jazz, right? Right! Let's get to the fun stuff!

Well, fun from a certain point-of-view, I guess. I mean, it was another foul-up on my part, I'll admit, but nowhere near as bad as when I'd neglected Sadness all those years, I'll tell you that much! It's just... well, I guess... See, it took place almost two weeks after the, uh... the "incident" as we've dubbed it, heh, and things in HQ were looking about as well as you could expect them to work. I mean, given the circumstances, I'd say we were doing alright. We were on the fast track to fixing things up, of course, but we still had bits and pieces of things to work on.

I needed to stop apologizing over and over for all the problems I'd made, Sadness needed to feel more confident in stepping up to the console, I needed to quit my apologizing, Disgust needed to start respecting Sadness a bit more, I needed to stop saying "sorry" so much every day, Anger needed to get his temper back in check, Fear needed to stop having nightmares... anything else?

Oh, and I needed to stop being such a worry worm ("ironic," I know, right?) and actually realize that all had been forgiven by that point. I don't see how a week's worth of apologies makes up for years of hogging all the fun, but there ya go! After your friends start saying things like, "Please stop with the apology notes, I'm running out of room on my bedroom walls," you kinda pick up on a hint.

Still, I felt sorry for what I did. And that's the truth! Absolutely, 100% true, no lies at all! I felt I'd apologized enough, according to them, but actions speak louder than words! I mean, yes, I'd started making a _big_ effort to keep away from the console unless I was absolutely needed (but I think I went too far there, too, with Sadness actually asking me to take over once in a while), but that's not enough! Apologies have to mean something, darn it! I mean... I mean... you know what I mean, right? Right! Okay, so, moving on...

It was one day when Riley had just gone to sleep. We'd been having these "Sadmares" (that's a word, right?) for a while now, where Sadness would have to take over Dream Duty, because the dream was about us running away. I guess... I guess that must've really been eating Riley up, according to Sadness's descriptions of what the dreams were each night. But that night I was actually on Dream Duty because guess what? The Sadmares were done! The crew down in Dream Productions must've decided enough was enough, 'cause we got a message in the mail letting us know it was my turn again, and then - bam - there I was! At the console, popcorn in one hand, nice fizzy soda in the other, ready to enjoy a good dream with Riley once more!

I mean, it _was_ odd that the bad dreams just stopped so suddenly like a lightswitch, but I didn't pay much attention to it. I was just so happy that things were back the way they needed to be, only with the bonus of Sadness now getting to do her job!

Ah, but I'm getting off subject again (sorry, I do that when I get excited, heehee) - what happened that night that led to another embarrassing (though not quite as bad as "repressing Sadness and being a complete control freak") mistake?

Well, I was there, watching the dream, and it was a really good one! Oh, it made me (and Riley, duh) feel all warm and fuzzy inside! It was Mom and Dad hanging out with us at the hockey rink downtown, skating around as a family, going up against an enemy team made of ice cream cones! So stupid, but we beat 'em, just Mom and Dad and Riley, and to celebrate, guess what we had? Sundays, of course! Only we wound up eating them in this big fancy restaurant, and then...

Then, uh... then, well... uh... Heh, uh...

Then our crush came into the room, sat down at our table, and Mom and Dad left us alone on a date _but whatever, that's not the main point of this so don't ask_. I just had to mention it because it's what got my cogs turning and wheels clicking. That, and the fact that I heard the soft steps of Sadness walking up behind me as I sat at the console.

"Oh, hi Sadness!" I said, "Is something wrong? Do you need some water? A bedtime story? I could-"

But she cut me short, "Oh, no - it's fine, I just... uh... I, uh... I left- I left something behind last night at the console, and I don't think anyone noticed, so I just need to, uh..."

Why was she acting so nervous? What was it? Was it something I did? Something I was doing? Something I didn't do? What? All these questions went around my head as she walked around the console. I was sucking down my soda in anticipation. It was like the big plot twist of some movie, or - or something! But I was so curious! After rounding the console, she found something below it in the front, and picked it up shyly, with her back facing me. Now, of course, I respect my friends' privacy (we emotions don't get much, after all!), but - darn it - I was curious, so I just leaned over and tapped Sadness on the shoulder, and she spun around and guess what I saw in her hand?

Nothing but Fear's favorite teddy bear!

Now, it only took me a split-second to think of why she had that, but in that split-second of thinking, my brain was all over the place, let me tell you! My first thought was, _'Hey, that's Fear's!'_

This was followed by, _'Well, duh, dummy! But why's she got it?'_

Also: _'Why's she blushing? She shouldn't be blushing! Why is that? What's going on? Did she steal it from Fear?!'_ That didn't make sense! Sadness was so sweet! I mean- well, yes, she focused on bad things, but she wasn't greedy, none of us were! Her stealing something of Fear's was just out of the question! Absolute nonsense, that's what I say! So it couldn't be that!

"Uh... I, uh..." she said, and she was all twitchy and nervous, and - you know what? - something caught my attention on the dream duty screen, when our crush looked at us and said the exact same thing! Then - boom - lightbulb! It all made sense!

Fear gave Sadness his teddy bear! Why? Well, why else would a guy give a girl a prized possession of his, huh? I put two and two together right away: Fear had a big crush on Sadness, and gave her that teddy bear because of it! I couldn't stop grinning - that was so cute! It was just- just- adorable! But I think I freaked out my little blue friend, 'cause she sort of sidestepped around the console without looking at me. She was saying something and - looking back - yeah, I should've paid more attention, but how could I when my heart was pounding so hard and I was smiling so big and my cheeks were blushing, too, and oh my gosh! _That was just the best thing ever!_

As Sadness went back to the rooms, I stayed at the console, but I was really only half-focused on the dream, and even after it ended I was still staying up. I was too excited to go to bed! Are you kidding me? How could I sleep when such a thing was happening between my two friends?! But what could I do about it? What could I do? What? What? _What?_

I had it!

So, after coming up with the best plan ever (which, shhh, I'll tell you soon! Don't be hurrying!), I went right to bed and slept soundly the rest of the night.

The next morning, I laughed myself awake, then went about business as usual. I had to keep this a secret, of course - like I said, I respected my friends' privacy, and if Fear and Sadness wanted to keep this to themselves, I completely totally understood all the way. But the cat was out of the bag for me, and they must've both known it, because they were (or at least Sadness was) kinda awkward around me all day. Disgust even commented that I was happier than usual (oh, if she only knew!), and Anger mentioned it as well. Know why? Because I only had the best idea to get Sadness and Fear the _perfect_ date! You might even...

Heh, you might even call it a... _Dream_ Date!

Get it? Get why? Because I wrote to Dream Productions, with a super special request for a super special dream for Fear and Sadness! I... didn't go into specifics, of course, but I think they got the gist of it. _Anyways_ , I got a letter back a few days later where they said my request was approved (though it was unusual to have mixed-emotion dreams this early, it wasn't against any rules), and so yay! The date would be a success! I had it all planned out start to finish: When it was the end of the day, I'd say it was time for me to do Dream Duty, so Anger and Disgust would go to their rooms, but then Fear and Sadness would find notes I left for _them_ to come to the console for a Double Dream Duty!

They were, of course, more than a little confused to see the flowers I decorated it with, and the candles I set up everywhere... and the fact that I recalled a quick little memory of some string quartet music...

...and had the train of thought bring up some extra-fancy tea.

Okay, so maybe I went a little overboard, but can you blame me? No, you can't - you would've done the same, right? I mean... I mean... It was obvious they were... y'know! And I was- I had to make up for all the- uh...

So, anyways, they looked more than a little confused to see all that, and Fear even turned a shade paler (poor guy, he was so nervous about his first date), but I was there to help! Before they could utter so much as a single protest, I whisked them both up into some chairs (extra fancy ones (that I had the Train of Thought deliver (obviously) earlier that day) because it was supposed to be a fancy date, which would be fun) and put them in front of the screen.

As I was pouring out some tea for them, Sadness tried getting my attention again.

"Uh... J-J-Joy?" she said, and that actually did make me pause, because she was clearly agitated.

"What's wrong?" I asked, setting the tea down.

"Well, uh... it's just... I think you need to understand-"

"Oh! You're allergic!" I quickly took down the flowers, "I'm so sorry! Gah, you should know your best friend's allergies, right? I mean, come on, that's-"

"No, I'm not allergic," she said, "But-"

"Oh, Fear's allergic! I'm so sorry, Fear!" I said. At this point, he looked like he was in the world's bloodiest horror movie, and about to faint, so I thought, _'Wow! That allergy must be really bad!'_ Then I realized that would ruin the date horribly, so I quickly added, "I don't want to ruin your date, guys! I really want it to go well!"

And, see, at _that_ point I realized that maybe I had ever so slightly completely got the wrong idea. I set the flowers on the floor, and looked at Fear some more, and noticed he was staring right through me. Now, I knew it didn't have anything to do with the dream, 'cause that memory of the music was still up, and REM was a little late in starting that night, so there was literally nothing for him to be afraid of...

I slowly started puzzling it together, but I still didn't understand! I mean - why else would Fear give his favorite stuffed animal to Sadness? I couldn't see any other reason, really! But then Sadness spoke. I couldn't help but notice she was about to live up to her namesake... that was the _last_ thing I wanted her to do.

"Joy, we're not... uh... we're... Fear and I aren't like that..." Her voice was breaking. Bad news! Really really really bad news!

"Oh..." I said, and yeah I was still confused, so she kept on.

"I mean, we're r-r-r-eally g-good friends, but... but we're not..." and the tears then came out, and nobody could stop them. She was bawling all over the console, then in her chair, then on the floor, and I didn't know what to do because I realized that I just made a big mistake once more. Between the explosive tears and deep whines, I made out something along the lines of "Can't believe you'd actually do this for us!" and "That was so nice of you!" and - last but not least - "You've got it all wrong!" These were all accompanied by the most guilt-inducing sobs and snorts I've ever heard, and I'm not exaggerating!

Okay, maybe I am a little! Just a little! But not by much, I'll tell ya that!

Now, while I was standing there like a statue, reconsidering just how well thought out this plan was, Fear was recovering from his stage fright long enough to pick Sadness up and set her in her chair. He attempted some humor. Whether that did any good or not, I dunno, but that's what he did. "H-Hey, calm down there! I'm not good at cheering people up, heh, that's - uh - that's your job, am I right?" He patted her back and handed her a cup of tea, which she gratefully accepted.

"Th-th-thanks," she blubbered out, then - after a sip and a deep breath - said, "I just needed to get that out of my system. I'm fine now." She looked back up at me, and then set her tea down.

"Joy, thanks... I'm glad you'd do that for us... if... if we... uh..."

Fear gulped slightly, then grabbed some more tea to calm himself.

"But," Sadness said, "I was over here the other night because... well, I'm not supposed to say... uh..."

Fear finally forced himself to swallow his tea and say, "I left my favorite anti-nightmare device out, and Sadness wanted to get it for me so I wouldn't embarrass myself in front of anyone!"

"Uh... okay, now let me get this right:" I said, ('cause I was still trying to wrap my brain around it), "when you say, 'anti-nightmare device,' are you referring to your favorite teddy bear?"

"No!" he defensively shot out, followed by, "Well, yes, if you wanna put it like that! But... how- How'd you know?!"

"Oh!" I laughed, "I just saw you with it once in a while when you had dream duty after an especially rough or scary day. It's no secret."

His eyes widened again, of course, and Sadness & I had to spend a while calming him down and explaining that it wasn't anything to be ashamed of and that nobody made fun of him for it (which was kind of a lie, but we didn't mention what Anger had said a few months back, so I guess that's fine). By the time we'd calmed him down, the dream had started and I was interrupting it with my jabbering.

"Well," I realized (still kinda embarrassed), "I, uh... I hate to say this, but... You two still have to be the ones at Dream Duty. 'Cause I ordered up one and my request got approved and, yeah... sorry."

"No, it's fine," Sadness said.

"Y-Yeah, no problem! Heh," added Fear.

And, to confirm that there were no hard feelings, they each let me give them a nice big hug before I went away. Now, I _offered_ to clean up the obscene amounts of candles and stuff, but they declined, saying they'd get it after Dream Duty was over and before anyone else could wake up.

So... lesson learned, right? Note to self: don't jump to conclusions so quickly and blah blah blah (there's a moral here, but who wants that when the fun part's over with? Morals can be boring!), now we're all fine. I've been corrected, Fear and Sadness aren't awkward around me anymore, and the other two never found out about this little mishap! So, yay! Everything's good, great, and grand! No more worries in that arena, nope!

None at all!

Not even a little!

Not...

Well, uh...

Hey, can you keep a secret?

You better.

Not a word to anyone, okay? I just gotta tell someone!

Okay, I'll trust you:

I was the first one up next morning, and when I went to the main room to get ready for the day, everything was all packed up nice and neat, no more candles to be seen, of course... _but_ I saw Fear and Sadness asleep at the console, and they were all snuggled up against eachother like pillows! It was so cute, seeing their arms curled up like that (even if Sadness had drooled on the console and Fear was biting his own hair). But, of course, I had to wake 'em up before the others came down, and - when I did - they quickly moved away.

And there you have it! That's the thing that happened and that I wanted to talk about. And I guess I'll admit it, Fear and Sadness aren't in a... They... Well, they don't _"like"_ eachother the same way I thought they did, but... well, there's definitely _something_ there, and that really does make me feel all warm and snuggly inside!

* * *

 **And another one down! :) I normally would've updated later next week, BUT I had some spare time to write, and you can bet I took advantage of that! As usual, no need for reviews unless you really want to - the fact that you read (and potentially got a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling from _your_ Joy regarding) this is a job well done in my opinion.**

 **I hope I was able to lighten up your day a little, and I hope you do go and have a good one! ;)**

 **Alternatively:**

 **I hope I was able to put a nice fuzzy end to your day, and I hope you have a good night's rest!**


	3. Sadness at Dream Duty

**_THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN UPDATED!_**

 _Hey guys! Scrabbledeebook here, and I am posting this update so you guys will know that I changed the first chapter. It was too generic to me, the first time around, so I sat down and changed a lot, especially from the point where Sadness goes to Fear's room. I feel it's a lot more poignant now (also, those of you who are confused; this used to be the FIRST chapter, then I updated it, so now it's the third; the reviews might seem slightly confusing, but a little bit of thinking works out which goes where)._

 _OH, also - to answer a guest reviewer: Yes, the emotions ARE siblings. That's why I get squicked out by romantic/sexual stuff with them, and prefer good ol' fashioned fuzzy feelings instead._

 _Also, to ALL readers: expect WEEKLY updates, no more. If I do get more frequent updates in, it's a fluke of luck, not the standard pace you'll get updates._

* * *

The heartbeat of HQ is nothing but a quiet hum behind curved walls.

Moments ago, the small world would have been alive with the glow of memories, but those have since been called away, to be tucked into their distant shelves. You can see them from behind the window, as now their many lights glint like a city of thoughts, more lifelike than during their waking hours. But across the black chasm, headquarters is now nearly asleep. Only one final task must be done, a closing note to the day's melody.

A blue light has enveloped the room, painting all but the furthest cracks and crevices in its watery hue. The faint echoes of a dream flit through the air. All else is quiet.

But in the island of light sits a figure. Her silhouette snatches light from the ground behind her, while her face bathes in the monitor's glow. Her arms, hidden in a sweater's warmth, are resting on the console's surface. Behind glasses that rest on a tiny nose, above a frowning mouth, her eyes stay entranced. She could be a statue.

Sadness is on Dream Duty. It's the same as the night before, and the night before, and the night before that, as far back as a week. The same nightmare, over and over.

It always opens with the hall of Riley's new home, leading from the bedroom. She takes a step, then another, then another. Before long, her feet are leading her to the hall's end. Step after step after step continues, yet the end doesn't come. It yawns away, stretching beyond her reach.

The blue figure shifts uncomfortably in her chair.

This is the part of the dream where cries reach Riley's ears, convulsing sobs from Mom and Dad. She hopes never to have to hear them again, yet each night brings their awful wail back. "Come back!" screams Mom.

"Riley!" yells Dad, and that horrible sound comes back; her parents begin sobbing, actually sobbing. It's the worst sound she's ever heard. She can't control her legs. The walk changes to a run. Then the hall blurs past and she tumbles out the exit, falling into the open door of a bus. The floor greets her, harshly.

Sadness felt that. She winces. She sniffles. She shuffles. She adjusts her seat. Then her tiny blue hands pick up the tiny blue tissue box, and she keeps it clutched close. This is the worst part of the dream.

It's the part where Riley stands up to find herself in the bus, empty. Not even a driver sits up front. Panicked, she turns around. Outside the back window, her parents' tear-filled faces greet her. "Mom!" she wants to cry, "Dad!" but it's no use - cracked sobs come out instead.

"It's just a dream, Riley..." Sadness says, though her tone betrays just how much of that she's feeling. Her hand fumbles for a button, and gently presses it.

Riley's strained breathing relaxes only slightly at that, but picks up pace again as the bus yanks itself away. She reaches for her parents, and they reach for her,  
But feet turn to yards turn to miles, and the night swallows her family from her, and she's left alone in a bus roaring across the country, taking her from home forever.  
Riley stays petrified, staring at the back window, unable to so much as flinch, feeling utterly alone.

Sadness shatters the silence and erupts into tears, yet - in spite of this - she faithfully keeps the button pressed. She's still there for Riley, even in this restless sleep. Even if it's the fifth night in a row that Riley's needed her here, on Dream Duty. Nobody knows why, and nobody ever quite will. But Sadness did rationalize it, in a way: She and Riley were veritable strangers for over a decade - now was a good of a time as any to catch up on all those wasted years. It's what the eleven-year-old's mind is doing now, at any rate, restoring equilibrium.

And in spite of the obvious feeling suffocating them both, Sadness feels...

What's the word?

Content.

Yeah, she's content. Content to be there, in this moment. Content to help the only way she can, mentally holding her girl's hand. Slowly, the Sadness's tears leave. The earthquake of sobbing stops shaking her body. She gets her breathing back to a steady pace, her heart follows, and the silence from earlier hesitantly returns.

But it's brought a friend with it.

Blue eyes blink, then Sadness listens intently, but hears nothing. She glances behind her, yet can't see anything. She can _feel_ it; it wouldn't be more obvious had there been a big, black cloud of smoke. _Something's_ coming from the bedrooms, _something_ that demands her attention.

To her credit, she dutifully waits the dream out, sticking with Riley through it all, in spite of this newfound mental itch. At long last, after more depressing minutes that seem to smear into hours, the dream stops. The bus and black countryside rolls to a faded close, and the monitor becomes black.

A single blue orb comes out. It's the memory of the dream. Sadness steps away from the console, though not before patting it once more and mumbling to Riley that, "It's alright... it's over now." She walks to the orb, gingerly picking it up. Her soft feet take her to the center of the room, where a recall tube awaits. She places the orb in it, and the tube takes it away. Before moving on to scratch that mental itch she feels, Sadness glances out the window. There, the single blue dot comes falling down in the distance, landing in a bin of other glowing memories. Time will tell if Riley remembers the dream, or if it will join its sisters in the graveyard below. But that is no concern of Sadness's.

She deliberately turns to the door leading to the bedrooms. While her hands idly run themselves along the twisting, spiraling rails beside her, that feeling grows. It swells like a wave, more potent with each step that takes her to the bedrooms. She opens the door quietly, and steps in. A quick flight of stairs bring her to a circular chamber. There, five doors stretch before her, where four sleeping figures now lie. Three of them are content, one is not.

She rubs her palms nervously, then walks up to the first door. Concern rides her features as she presses her ear up to its yellow frame, and she finds herself holding her breath, waiting. But nothing comes, so she moves on past Joy's sleep-giggling sounds. Not a trace of feeling sad is in that room.

Her next stop is a red-framed room, and it doesn't take long for her to dismiss Anger as being the source of the "itch" (though a wave of heat does creep out from under the doorway, encouraging her to quickly move away). He's ticked off about something, but what it is doesn't concern her.

Her room is next, and she walks by its round blue arch without a second thought. She does feel sad, but not for herself; she's worried about whoever it is that's causing this.

The green door belonging to Disgust makes her stop and choke; thick gusts of perfume strangle the air around it, and - by extension - Sadness. She keeps her coughing quiet, of course, and in spite of the jarring distraction, she knows Disgust isn't the source of that depression she's feeling.

So, obviously, Fear is the source. Sadness creeps up to his purple doorway, where the feeling suddenly flares up, a blinding light of... guilt? Depression? Worry? It's all that and more; it's a monster of a thing. _'Fear... what have you done?'_ she thinks as she leans up against the door.

She listens, and is not surprised to hear the faint, almost mute sounds of whimpers. She breathes in, then out, then quietly knocks.

"Fear?" she whispers, "Are you alright?"

But if he hears her, he doesn't say it. The sobbing continues.

She hesitantly twists the knob and opens his creaking door.

It's actually the first time she's ever set foot in her purple peer's room. Had the situation not been so urgent, she might have taken some time to observe his night lights of all kinds (they greet her all around), or the veritable library of bland posters, displaying cute animals accompanied by words of encouragement. She's not concerned with them, though, so she pays no heed. She's concerned with Fear. He's in his bed, snuggled up beneath thick covers and surrounded by safety rails.

And he's crying in his dreams.

She steps up to his bed, where he's tossing and turning, a single teddy bear clutched to his chest in a death-grip. He whines, he mutters, he tosses, and the cycle repeats.

"Fear?" Sadness asks, resting a hand on his shoulder. He jerks away fitfully, still half asleep.

"Riley?" the purple emotion says, eyes still shut, "Riley!"

"No... I'm Sadness... remember?"

"Riley..." Fear mumbles, voice hoarse. A shudder rolls down his spine. "Riley, I'm- I..."

He flings himself up, suddenly, eyes wide open as he clutches that bear close to him. It is a pitiful sight if there ever was one; skin pale, hands trembling, hair standing straight up. Sadness is at a loss for words. She's never seen him like this, except on the few occasions Riley had woken up from a nightmare. This was different, though. It was frightening to see a friend in such a traumatic state.

She gulps down her worries, and gets up the courage to just nudge his arm.

Startled, Fear jerks his head to Sadness. His jittery body takes a moment to process what he's seeing, but when he does, he sighs heavily, sorrowful, and looks away in shame.

Silence comes down. Seconds tick by while nothing happens.

"Fear, what's wrong?" Sadness asks. She again touches his arm to get his attention. This time, he doesn't jerk or jolt or panic. He simply keeps staring at his teddy bear.

"Sadness..." he says.

"Yeah?"

"I don't remember you being this small... or fuzzy..."

Sadness is briefly confused, before realizing that Fear is still half asleep, one foot in his nightmare still.

"Oh, I, uh... that happens sometimes..." she says, deflecting the question. It's unimportant. What _is_ important is getting to the root of this problem. She keeps her hand on Fear's arm.

"Can Riley hear us?" he asks, nervously looking around the room, as if the walls themselves were listening in.

"I... I don't think so."

"Oh... okay," Fear says, accepting this as fact. But before Sadness can reply, Fear's gaze shifts to the stuffed bear again, this time urgent. "I need you to tell her something, Sadness! B-But don't tell anyone else... okay? Just Riley..."

"I promise I'll try to..."

"Thank you," He says. He deeply inhales, then exhales, preparing himself before saying, "Tell Riley I'm sorry, please."

"Sorry for what?"

"I'm sorry... I-..." his voice struggles to get enough air out, but a huge weight has hit him, his shoulders slouching forward under a mental strain, "I'm sorry that I tried to run away..."

"I'm sure she'd know you were scared..."

"I'm also sorry again..." his voice cracks, "I'm- I'm sorry I didn't help... when we made her run away... and I'm- I'm sorry, Riley. I'm trying to do better! Please let her know that, Sadness!" He urgently grips the bear, looking right into its eyes, "I don't want her mad at me... I don't want Riley mad. I love her, and I don't want her mad..."

"It's okay... I'll let her know," Sadness promises, patting Fear's arm.

He blinks at that, and the tears that were peeking out of his eyes creep back away, forced to retreat. He slowly turns his head to face the _real_ Sadness, confused only for a moment. Then, his expression shifts again, and he weakly smiles. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she says. She hesitates before speaking again. Fear's half out of it as is. Would it matter? Would he remember what she says now? She weighs it back and forth, trying to think, but - in the end - decides it's for the best. "Fear?"

"Huh?" His eyes are starting to droop now.

Sadness tries to hurry up and get the words out in time. "We all make mistakes... we can't change what we've done... but there's always tomorrow."

"Tomorrow..." He slowly closes his eyes, still clutching the bear up to his chest with one arm. Sadness stays dutifully by his side, reluctant to leave. Gradually, though, that poisonous feeling, that toxic blackness that had filled the room, creeps away... that gloom goes back, shrivels, and dies. As it dwindles off into nothing, Sadness becomes assured that she can leave safely. The quiet hum of HQ is the only noise. The small sights and night lights are all to be seen. No more boogie men haunting Fear's dreams.

So she turns to leave. She takes a step, but is stopped by a sudden jerk on her hand.

She quickly looks down. Though still deep in sleep, Fear has grabbed her palm. It's not painfully tight, but firm enough for someone of his stick-like build. Just firm enough to keep her there a moment longer. As she looks, waiting to see what becomes of this, she can't help but notice a smile on his face.

"Riley?" he mumbles.

Unsure of the best response, Sadness opts to play along once more. "Yeah?"

"Tell... tell Ssss... sss... Sssadnesss..."

Fear's limp arm drops back to his bed, but Sadness's stays dangling there, as though he still had a grip on it. She wants to know. Curiosity fills her up. She suddenly really wants to know what it is, and so waits with held breath. Is it bad? Did she mess up again? Is Fear secretly angry at her? What? What is it?

"Tell her... she'ss... sss... she's my best fff... friend..."

She goes numb, trying to process what she heard. _Friend?_ Not just a friend, but a _best_ friend? Sadness's voice trembles this time. "I'll tell her."

As she steps across the room with its purple lights, she thinks back to all the times she remembers interacting with Fear... all the times she'd cry as he screamed at something, or as she'd compliment him on making Riley terrified... all the small little glimpses of grins that she'd caught from him...

She quietly closes his bedroom door, and goes to her own bed in her blue ball of a room.

She'll sleep well tonight.

* * *

 **Alright, there's ya go! Another pointlessly fluffy snippet! :)**

 **FUN FACT: When I say that Fear/Sadness (or - as I prefer - "Nervous Tears") is my OTP, that is no exaggeration - it's the only pairing I do... in all of any fandom... ever. Hah XD (even though - again - I make it deliberately nonromantic).**

 **Thank you so much for the time to read or skim this fic of mine.**

 **Now, go forth and have a good day (or night)!**


	4. Skating, Stumbling, and Falling

**Well, guys, I've seen fanfics that go on and on and on for longer than they have any business going on. Ideas get repetitive, stagnant, and not very fun to read.**

 **So, it's regrettable (but for the best) that I end this fanfic at chapter five. Trust me, I've come up with the _perfect_ ending for it. You won't be disappointed! In the meantime, though, we do have this one, which is - if I may say - fairly nice in its own way (albeit shorter than what I expected when I set out to type it).**

 **I hope you're having a good day so far! And I hope this little short will be all nice and heartwarming and cut and stuff.**

* * *

"Yes!" Joy screamed, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Woohoo!" She pressed a button (on their freshly upgraded twelve-year-old console) and continued spouting off exclamations of happiness. None of the other emotions made a move to stop her, though Anger's face was still stuck in its perpetual sneer. The reason was obvious; up on the monitor, Riley could see that her and her parents were the only ones in the hockey rink today.

Not to say that Riley wasn't happy walking downtown, or looking forward to practicing hockey anyways, but there was just something special about being the only ones in the big, open area. In the back of her head, though, she felt the tiniest bit of fear as he commented, "Heh, looks kinda creepy with how big and open it is... let's- let's stay in Mom and Dad's sight."

Hockey gear was on, and Riley was ready. She stepped out to the rink and began skating around, shuffling the puck around with her hockey stick.

"No need to practice that," Disgust noted, "We're good at moving the puck already."

"Okay," Sadness said, "B-But how about blocking it from going to the other team? We- we should probably be practicing that..."

"Really?" asked their golden leader, incredulously.

"Well, yeah, I mean... we kinda... uh..." Sadness recalled a memory at that. A gleaming blue orb came down from a recall tube, and its deep, depressing hue splashed over the monitor. There they were, playing hockey just yesterday. There was Riley, skating around, head in the game and determined to win. She saw it coming; the puck was being passed from one opposing player to another, but there was a chance - a large chance - to take it back for her team, and maybe allow them the opportunity to get ahead in the game.

But it only took one slight misstep, one fraction of a miscalculation, and the puck somehow went soaring by, her stick missing it without the smallest of contacts.

Silence followed as the memory went away. And in that silence, Joy spoke first.

"Oh..." she said.

"Yeah," added Sadness with the press of a button, "We really should be working on that..."

"Heh," scoffed Anger, "How can we when we're the only ones in here?"

Joy's eyes brightened up. "Mom and Dad! Let's have them help!"

A chorus of, "Oh, yeah," and "Good idea," greeted her, and so she plucked out a single bulb from the pile nearby, then set it in the console. Riley liked that idea, so she looked up to her parents, sitting nearby.

"Mom!" she said, "Dad! You said you brought skates too?"

They nodded.

"Come on, I need help practicing! I want to practice intercepting!"

They were out on the rink before a minute further could pass, holding hockey sticks of their own. With them out there, helping, Riley found practice going by quickly...

...too quickly. Every time she found something new she needed to improve on, or run through, her Hockey Island stepped up to the plate as faithfully as ever, igniting her reflexes and quickly taking care of everything.

Joy was overjoyed. "Yes!" she cried out, "Go, Riley, go! Yeah! You're on a roll!"

"We're running out of things to do!" Disgust said.

"Oh, then we'll have to go home..." came a familiar lowly mumble.

But another idea was popped in before anyone could say another word. As Riley sat on the bench, taking her bulky hockey gear off, she suddenly picked her head up and smiled. Looking to her dad, she asked, "Hey, Dad, uh... how much time do we have?"

"Oh, about..." he checked his watch, "Well, we still have thirty minutes, sweetie. You went through those moves like nobody's business! Nicely done!"

"Thanks," she said with a smile, and a bit of a blush, "Uh... so, can we just... can we just skate around?"

Mom and Dad exchanged looks, then looked back to their girl. "Sure!"

And so it was.

The family was back out on the rink, skating around freely, not a care in the world. As the time slowly ticked by, Riley was absorbed in wonderful nostalgia, remembering the old lake back home, where she and her family would always go. She remembered the ice, and the chilly winter air, and the shining sun in Minnesota. The memory was recalled right away; there they were - all three of them. There was Riley, skating around within that golden filter, spinning and grinning ear-to-ear. A mirror image of the girl on the monitor, Joy lept over the console and skated around with Riley.

"There she goes again," mumbled Anger.

The others silently nodded.

"Oh, come on!" Joy said, "Guys, our family is with us, Riley's perfectly safe, she's having a fun time... why not? A-Anger, come on. It's fun!"

Anger shook his head. "No, I think I'll pass."

"Oh, but that's no fun!" said his golden companion, and before he could open his mouth and decline once more, she seized his wrist and switched places with the little red brick. Now Joy was standing where he was earlier, and Anger, still too surprised to scowl just yet, was twirling and twirling and twirling out of control out in front of the console.

"Joy!" he yelled, finally regaining some control, "What the- what the heck was that?!"

She simply laughed. Through her giggle came the words, "I waxed the floor!"

Steadying himself, Anger slowly started waddling back to the safety of the console, looking less happy with each step. "Yeah, I can see that!" he grumbled, "Now help me-"

"Oh, okay!"

And she was out on the makeshift rink, clumsily skating around with her shorter friend, much to his chagrin. As the impromptu ballet went on, with Joy shouting out tips and hints on skating, the other three couldn't help but smile.

"You think this is funny?!" snarled Anger.

Fear shriveled up, "Uh- uh- uh- I, uh..."

Sadness took on a despondent tone, "Oh, sorry... we didn't mean to-"

Disgust laughed harder. "Yes!" she said, "Yes, it is funny! You look so ridiculous!"

"I bet _you_ look worse!"

"Oh, please!" With which confidence, Disgust kicked off her shoes and went right to the tiny rink. "Watch!"

Admittedly, she was less clumsy than Anger; her limbs didn't flail as much, and she stumbled and fell less frequently, and her face remained stubbornly stoic, in spite of how often she misstepped. Regaining her balance and taking a swift bow, she looked at the others, who met her performance with scattered bits of clapping.

"Yes, thank you," she said with a flick of her hair.

"Fear!" Joy chirped, "Fear, you should go!"

"Wha... no!" he said, "No, no, nononono... uh... how about- how about you, Sadness?"

"Oh, I don't want to. I'll just slip and fall and get hurt and embarrass myself..."

"Come on, guys, it's easy!" Joy said, "You two are always skulking back when stuff like this happens and you never get to jump in on the fun!"

A defensive smile from Fear. "No, it's not that- i-i-it's just-"

"Oh, I guess you're right..." Sadness said.

"Yeah!" Joy replied, "See, Fear? You guys never-"

"But I don't wanna have fun..." Sadness added, "I wanna just watch you guys have fun and contemplate how I'm missing out."

Joy stared blankly ahead. Sadness's remarks were utterly lost on the embodiment of happiness. And so she stood there, thinking, before the words, "Oh, but Sadness, Fear told me he the other day that he wanted to skate but was too scared to do it alone, and that made him depressed," came shooting out of her mouth, deliberate and precisely aimed.

They worked on Sadness like magic. "Oh no!" Her tiny blue hands went up to her pudgy cheeks, dragging them down ever so slightly, "Oh, that's awful! I'm so sorry, Fear..."

"But- but- but- she's lying! She-" Fear's panic was rising, but his protests fell on deaf ears. Slowly, Sadness grabbed Fear's arm and half-walked, half-drug him out to Joy's makeshift skating area. "It's not necessary, I-I'm fine, really, I-"

"Okay, here we are..." Sadness mumbled, eyes looking to her feet as she slipped and stumbled and caught her balance once more, inadvertently jerking Fear back and forth. She glanced back at Joy. "Now what do we do?"

"Oh, you just- uh... you just skate!" Joy said with a shrug. "I guess. I never really explained it before, so... uh... yeah! Just- just slide around on the ice!"

"Okay..."

When they began skating, neither imagined that they'd end up twirling perfectly around, hand in hand, able to gracefully navigate the floor as though they'd done this all their lives. And they were right; nothing of the sort happened.

Instead, what started with a stumble soon led to a fall, and amid a cloud of flailing limbs and klutzy maneuvers, Fear and Sadness both wound up on the floor, dizzy from their first attempt at skating. Fear sat up, trembling with shock. Sadness sat up, sniffing and adjusting her glasses. They were both facing the monitor, and were both still faintly sliding across the ice, hand in hand. "Sadness?" asked Fear.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Oh, yeah, sure..."

There was some more silence.

Then...

"But I don't wanna skate again."

"M-Me neither. That hurt when we fell."

"It was... it was pretty scary, yeah."

The two stayed sitting there for the rest of Riley's visit to the hockey rink, watching as she skated around on the ice with her parents, hands still tightly clutched together.

* * *

 **There ya go! Not one of my best, I'll be the first to admit, but it's definitely what I wanted to write. The idea was just too adorable - in my opinion - to pass up.**

 **Hope you have a good day!**


	5. Once More, With Feeling

**A/N: Done! This is the final short for this series! Sorry if you're sad to see it go, but I had to draw the line at some point, guys. Didn't want this thing running on for too long and overstaying its welcome, after all! ;) Hope you enjoyed the brief ride, and I hope I'm able to provide you with some warm fuzzies.**

 **If not, then I still wish you a great day (or night)! Seriously, hope you have a good one, and thanks for reading or skimming this fanfic of mine.**

* * *

It was the first night she'd been on Dream Duty in quite a while. In fact, it was just hours ago that Riley and Mom and Dad were caught in an embrace, and the new Core Memory was made. It was still there, of course, glowing bright beneath the floor in its gold-and-blue glory. The blue emotion hardly left the console for the rest of the day, remaining there as Joy exchanged a group hug with the others, staying still as Mom and Dad moved from "comfort" mode to "punishment" mode (Riley wound up grounded for the month for what she'd done... Anger was none too thrilled but refrained from manning the console), and she'd dutifully stayed by Riley's side as Mindworkers came in to repair the damage done to HQ during the near disaster.

At the end of the day, though, Joy was able to take over one last time, as Riley drifted off to sleep full of relief that she'd changed her mind. This left the little blue teardrop to walk over to the core memories and look at them once more, all blue save one - the new one powering Family Island. She warmly touched it, rubbing her hand across its surface (wich - thankfully - remained unchanged). She'd done it. She'd finally shown the others what her place was, and - though there'd be a ways to go before things balanced out - for now, it was looking good. Just as Riley went to sleep, just as the orbs were sent down to Long-Term, Sadness felt a tap on her back. Joy was facing her.

"Hey, Sadness," she said with a genuine smile, "I wanted to say... thanks."

Sadness replied in kind. "Thank you, too."

Joy nodded, then added, "Uh... well, I - uh... I have a feeling that tonight, you should be on Dream Duty."

Sadness blinked at that. "M-Me?" she asked.

Joy nodded, "I don't know, it's just... it's a really strong feeling, and - honestly - I wouldn't be surprised if... well, if this was a sad dream tonight, what with - heh - with the whole 'almost running away' thing."

"Oh, okay."

"You remember what to do?" Joy asked, "I think you've only been on Dream Duty once or twice before..."

"Yeah, I remember."

Joy smiled. "Well, alright then."

She moved to leave, but stopped. She quickly turned around and her arms flung wide, closing in and enveloping Sadness in a big embrace. Sadness didn't respond, but felt Joy take a deep breath, then let it out as she let go.

"Okay," she said through a sniff, "Okay, I'm good now. Okay... just- I just needed that. Sorry."

"No, you're alright," said the blue one.

"Alright," Joy smiled, " _Now_ I'm off to bed. See you in the morning, sis!"

"Y-yeah, goodnight."

And with that, Joy did as she said she would. The dream was about to begin. Sadness pulled up a chair, trying to recall what the dream was about the last time she was on duty. She breathed in, breathed out, and - tissue box at the ready - commenced watching.

It was the worst thing she'd ever seen. She didn't know dreams could get so bad, but they apparently did.

The dream unfolded. Riley was walking down her hallway, heavily breathing, exhausted as her feet took on minds of their own. Her parents started crying out for their daughter, but her feet began running. Running, running, running, down the lengthening hall, until at last she tumbled out the end and into an empty bus. Not even a driver was present, but the doors slammed shut on their own, and Riley spun around to see her parents, tears in their eyes. They were crying, sobbing, begging her not to go. Begging her to stay with them. She tried running out. She tried opening the door, but it was useless as the bus ripped away into the night, shooting out across the countryside and leaving family far behind, lost in the night.

Then it ended.

No resolution, no winding to a close, just a fade to black while Riley was abducted by the bus, roaring out away from home, into some desolate countryside devoid of even the smallest of life. Then, black nothingness and the dream was over.

By that point, Sadness's horrified mouth was gaping in shock. Her tears were streaming silently down her face while sobs occasionally broke out of her throat, forcefully. A neat little pile of tissues had cluttered up the console, wet with her salty tears. Her trembling hands swept them into a manageable lump, and she struggled out of the chair, holding them.

Her shaken footsteps took her to a nearby trashcan, all while her breathing fidgeted, fighting with her lungs. "R-Riley..." she said, "I'm so sorry..."

How could she have known such a sight would greet her? Such an awful dream... no, it was a nightmare, but without Fear. A Sadmare? She didn't know, any more than she knew what would happen to its orb when it was sent to Long Term. Either the dump or storage, she supposed. The thought brought her to the window, and alone in the dark she looked out it, down to the dump far below. It stretched out, yawning beneath her like the mouth of a monster. She gulped, remembering Joy's plunge, and what she said had happened down there.

The memory nearly brought her tears back, yet she shoved them down with more haggard breaths. Now was not the time to cry. Now was the time to...

To?

To get the orb. Right.

Sadness turned around, and froze.

It was dark. She'd never seen HQ so dark, after a dream ended. She'd only seen it during the day, and the one or two times she was on Dream Duty, it never seemed this dark... but- but was it? Sadness whimpered, then focused in on her task. She needed to walk. That's all it was. She just needed to walk across the floor, grab the dream's memory, and send it to Long Term... no big deal.

So she told herself, but her whole body tensed up. The silence was so heavy that she startled herself when she began moving. The noise of her tiny feet dragging across the floor jolted her spine, and she locked up once more.

"C-c-c-come on..." she moaned, "Just... just move..."

She sniffed, and breathed heavily. She needed to get going. Just had to get the orb.

Eventually, her will grew stronger than her limbs, though not by much, and she forced them to make the trek across HQ's dead silent, pitch-black floor. It reminded her too much of the way the night looked in the dream, the way it seemed to expand and close in all at once, threatening to seize Riley. But there was no boogiemen here, just Sadness's own dread, and that wasn't enough to prevent her hands from picking up the dream's orb.

She gulped, averting her eyes from the awful sight buried inside like a horrific snow globe. Small blue hands carried the small blue orb to the Recall Tube, and she sent it away. In the distance, like a falling star, it came down to some pile somewhere, to be sorted by the mindworkers the next day.

Leaving Sadness alone, once again.

In the darkness.

Her heartbeat was loud enough in her own ears, but apart from that she had no company. So, with no one else to help her, not even to call out and guide her back, she went through the gloom and up the stairs, slowly. The light having left, terror's weight multiplied, and it now drug her down and slowed her ascent. In her mind, she couldn't help but replay that dream over and over and over again, with Mom and Dad's awful faces.

 _'Hopefully,'_ she thought whens he was finally nestled in bed, fluffy blankets swallowing her whole, _'that's the last time they'll need me on Dream Duty.'_

The next day came, and morning robbed Sadness of the nighttime terror. It was as if it were nothing but a bad dream, fittingly enough. She went back to her day doing the duties she needed (and she was needed quite a bit that day, as recalled memories came rolling in; Riley reviewed what she'd done earlier, and was not too happy with the results). Joy was visibly restraining herself, lip bit, fingers twitching, and generally painting a fidgety picture. Sadness found herself alternating most of the day with Anger and Disgust, sometimes blending with the two to concoct a dose of guilt. Not many happy memories were there that day.

Still, Sadness felt better than she had in a while. She felt at ease, as though a weight had been taken off of her. Finally able to relieve all the pent-up sorrow of eleven repressed years, the blue emotion was content with being able to do her job, and do it well.

And the day even ended on a positive note, with Joy being able to cheer Riley up after school, when she got to walk home with Mom. She got home, happy to have a wonderful family, and proceeded to do her homework with a smile on her face. A smile, by the way, shared by Sadness, who walked up and down the length of Short-Term storage, admiring her handiwork.

Her smile was wiped from her face that evening, as Riley lay under her blankets. Joy grabbed a letter brought in by the Train of Thought, and - on reading it - announced that Dream Productions will be showing a rerun for the foreseeable future. So, whichever emotion was on Dream Duty last time needed to be there for this night as well.

Sadness didn't protest, but she was definitely not looking forward to another terror-filled evening. She sat down once more at the console, had those tissues once more nearby, and drug the trashcan over next to her, to spare herself the need to walk all the way across the floor.

The cold, dark floor.

To say the second night was worse would be an understatement. Now armed with the knowledge of what would soon happen, Sadness found herself cringing in terror, wincing at the sights and sounds, bawling her eyes out ahead of time, and generally experiencing an even worse heartache, one that made the previous night's pale in comparison.

As the horrid dream wound to its close again, Sadness was left sitting at the console, sobs rocking her as she cried and cried and cried. And - of course - she was alone again. Not a shoulder to lean on, not anyone else to help her through it, just a whimpering blue ball alone with the memory that caused this.

As she pondered the situation, an even worse dread dawned onto her. "For the foreseeable future," Joy had read. What was that supposed to mean? How much longer would she- no, Riley- how much longer would Riley need to be subjected to this? Days? Weeks? Months? What was going on down there?

She walked over to the orb and picked it up, grimacing at its contents. As she did, she briefly wondered what it was like for the others, when they went to deposit their memory orbs after each dream. Disgust hardly ever had Dream Duty, but hers were probably easy. Anger's, too - not frightening, just angry. At least in those, Riley wasn't helplessly frightened or depressed. And Joy? She probably had it the easiest, witnessing wonderful images and letting Riley enjoy the nighttime production. But Sadness probably had it worst, next only to Fear.

She furrowed her brows as she considered that. How did Fear even do it? When he had nightmares, how did he get through so much terror? 'If it's this bad for me,' Sadness thought, 'I can't even imagine how terrible Fear's must get... poor guy.'

She shuddered to think of it.

And yet... how _did_ he do it? Surely, there had to be a way. If he was able to pull through his - well, Fears - then Sadness could certainly do the same. After all, Fear was the most jumpy of them all, and though he had woken them up prematurely on many an occasion, there were many nightmares Riley had had that Fear didn't so much as scream during (and his screams could be heard, very easily).

"Maybe..." Sadness thought out loud, "Maybe it would be good... to ask his advice, anyways..."

But that line of thinking was interrupted by another. _'Oh, no, I can't do that! I'd just be a burden... i-it's better that Fear not be bothered with my problems.'_ She straightened her back as best as she could. 'I'll just have to get through this myself.'

With which resolution, she nodded and sent the sad memory away for the evening. It twinkled off into the distance, and she was alone once more. She made the awful journey back to her bedroom in double the speed, quickly flinging her extra-droopy nightgown on and jumping under her blankets. The blue girl then curled up into a ball, squinting her eyes shut and covering her ears, lest the scary nighttime atmosphere get to her.

She was a full-grown eleven-year-old emotion. She'd be able to take care of this by herself. No choice, save to muscle through it on her own, without burdening any of the others over it.

So she determined as she lay under the covers, shivering in fright at the thought of that dream she'd have to face the next evening.

But the night went on, and her dread came back to taunt her. She couldn't get that awful image out of her head; Mom & Dad, crying out, tears in their eyes, the bus leaving, the all-encompassing night. These thoughts and more came crashing into her, clamping down on her tiny blue figure in a monumental wave.

For that night, and several more to come, she had a chance to taste what it was like to be Fear, scared of everything, jumping at shadows. Claws stretched out from the darkness to grab her. Wailing screams could be heard just out of her earshot. Chills assaulted her spine when she caught glimpses of figures in the dark. All against the backdrop of that nightmare, all painted against the depressing afterimage of Mom and Dad being yanked into the distance as the bus took off.

And yet...

Sadness was able to get through it all. See, something else gradually began seizing her attention, a mental "itch" if you will. Something instinctual, not cognitive. Something she wasn't even aware of at first. But it crept in like an insect, with its spindly legs, unnoticed for the longest time. Someone was upset. One of her family, one of the other emotions, was feeling sad about something. And yet - for all her ability to sense this feeling in others - she didn't fully notice it until her fifth night on this graveyard shift. Perhaps, she concluded later, it was because Riley was feeling sad quite often, and the distraction there was enough to draw her mental attention away from the four around her. But inevitably, she noticed, and she was shocked at the results when she found out.

Fear.

Fear was the one feeling this feeling.

At any rate, this new feeling, this depressing, gloomy cloud, was all that was keeping her from caving in and breaking down each night. She had no idea at the time, but the concern for one of the others was calming her in a way, occupying the back of her mind like a phantom, and when she noticed it, her dread and gloom vanished in place of concern. It all happened at once; she felt the itch hit her, and she waited out the dream. Once the awful replay concluded, she worked her way to the bedrooms, and found that Fear was the source of this awful, awful depression.

She walked quietly up to his bed, and in his sleep, he poured out this guilt that was tearing at him, this awful mourning that was sapping his spirits. He felt guilty for not acting in time to prevent Riley from running away. He'd let Disgust and Anger step over him, and he let himself cave to peer pressure, and Riley suffered because of it. He just wanted to reach out, to tell Riley that he loved her, and would never do something to hurt her. Of course, all this was confessed in a half-asleep, dream-filled state, but the point was made regardless, and Sadness felt content to comfort him. But it didn't stop there; just as she turned to leave the room, Fear - still mostly asleep - grabbed her by the hand. Then, he mumbled out loud something that struck her right in the chest; he called Sadness his best friend.

She rested easily that night, to say the least, allowing a warm feeling to grow and swell and envelope her. First Joy, now Fear. Two friends in less than a week. Maybe, just maybe, Disgust and Anger would be added to that list soon. Maybe she could be the missing piece they needed to all come together, to be a complete family once more. For that night alone, Sadness slept well.

But the tranquility was gone the next night.

Dream Duty returned, still with the same horrible vision, and with it came an overwhelming, overpowering, crippling gloom. With no more of Fear's worries to distract her, the dream hit her with a vengeance. She felt bare, exposed to every horrid detail. It seemed to get only worse from there, tormenting her through the nighttime. Mom and Dad were no longer crying, they were wailing. The darkness stopped playing games and commenced devouring the world around her. The bus was not a bus, but felt more akin to a coffin, speeding Riley to her grave. It was utterly depressing, but - to Sadness - it was something more; it was terrifying.

* * *

Fear jolted awake.

In his room lit by night-lights, he felt protected. Behind the safety rails, clutching his teddy bear tightly, with a tea kettle resting and timed to heat in the morning, the purple emotion felt like a refugee from the night, securely nestled in his personal bunker. But it wasn't his own nightmare that bugged him (as far as he could remember, he was having a pleasant dream), nor was it a discomfort in his bed (it was more comfortable than usual that evening). No, it was something on the outside. Some urgent matter was pressing him, and he had to find out what.

He gulped as he realized what he was feeling - the only thing he ever felt, of course: fear. But not his.

Once, when Joy had nearly gotten sucked up a recall tube, he felt her heart leap in panic. Another time, when Disgust had stumbled and fallen off the bedroom stairs, he sensed her panic escalate and fall away just as quickly. Recently, as their attempt at running away grew out of hand, he could tell that Anger - in spite of his raging exterior - was screaming on the inside, utterly horrified at what he'd done. This was like that, only worse.

Way worse.

The purple twig of an emotion slowly crept out from the safety of his bed, teddy bear clutched in one hand. His heart took up a pattering tempo as it realized he'd have to leave the safe confines of his bedroom, and brave the darkness outside. He could try going back to bed, of course, but...

But nothing, someone was scared. Someone in HQ was terrified, and for one, he wouldn't be able to sleep again while he was sensing this mental sensation clawing at his brain. Secondly, his own conscience would never allow him to leave someone in such a predicament, least of all his own flesh-and-blood (or would it be particle-and-light?). So, he took a few deep breaths to steel his frayed nerves, then - with trembling hand, reached into his nightstand, taking out a flashlight. It flicked on with ease. _'Good, batteries working.'_ He pocketed the spare batteries just in case, then took out the backup flashlight, checked it, and placed the backup backup batteries in his other night pants pocket.

"Okay, here goes," he said to himself, adjusting his nightcap. He glanced down at his teddy bear, nervously chuckled, then walked to the bedroom door and quietly opened it.

Fear's bulging eyes peeked out into the chamber, where five doorways greeted him. One of them had to be the source of this terror he felt. It just had to be. He tiptoed over to his first neighbor's entryway. From behind Disgust's heavily-scented frame, Fear picked up on absolutely no panic. Not a hint of fright. Nothing. He shrugged, pushing past the aroma, and crossed over to Joy's door. Logically, she could be frightened, considering the whole "nearly messing up Riley by forcing her to be happy" thing. Yet when he arrived at her sunshine of a door, he couldn't detect any fright. Nope. Just excitement as she dreamed of roller coasters or trampolines or something like that, undoubtedly. He blinked and turned to Anger's door. He leaned against it to hear, but then jerked back just as quickly. It burned him to touch the frame; whatever was going on in there, it was not panic. "Good grief," Fear mumbled, "D'you need the heater up that high? Sheesh!" The purple emotion checked Sadness's door, but felt nothing, either.

He stood still, puzzled over the situation, and even checked all the doors once more, but - alas - the feeling didn't grow near any of them, neither did it go away. It stayed a constant, static hum of panic. _'Weird,'_ he thought, _'Usually it's easier to tell, I mean, even if I'm on Dream Duty and someone else has a nightmare...'_ Then he blinked once, just once, before slapping himself in the face. Of course. Sadness was on Dream Duty tonight, just like the night before!

The worried nerve stepped out of the chamber, and - as he worked his way down the stairs to the main room - he felt that feeling grow. This was definitely it, the source of the terror. He could feel it grow more and more overwhelming with each step he took. In fact, it was so distracting that he wasn't paying attention to where he was walking, and stumbled into Sadness. The two came tumbling down the stairs, landing on the ground in a painful pile.

As he regained his senses and flicked on his flashlight, Fear saw Sadness, who had just gone through yet another horrifying dream. He could tell by her tear-filled eyes, and her trembling hands. Her breathing was uneven. Worry was engraved on her blue face, and not leaving any time soon. It was so shocking to see her like this that at first he didn't say anything. He just stared, as she stared back.

"Sadness..." he whispered, "A-Are you okay?"

Her heaving breaths picked up and her trembling hands shook with new energy as she stuttered out, "N-N-No... No, I'm not!"

And with that, the little blue ball curled up and seized Fear tightly, gripping him for support as a fresh batch of panic overtook her. Fear, meanwhile, had no clue what to do other than let her clutch him. What else could he do? He wasn't good with words. He wasn't exactly the most confidence-building of the emotions. So he did all he could do: he let Sadness hold him as his limp arms stayed dropped to the ground, flashlight in one hand and teddy bear in the other.

The minutes melted away, and soon Sadness had calmed her heart and steadied her breathing. She looked up to her purple friend, and - through a hoarse whisper - said, "Thank you."

"Uh... y-you're welcome?" he said, "Sadness, are you alright?"

"I-I-I am now, I think..."

"What happened?" he asked, "You... your worry, it woke me up! You were- you must've been-... I mean..."

She explained everything to him; the dreams of the past few nights, the horror of it all, everything (everything, that is, except for Fear's half-sleeping confession; somehow, it didn't feel right to tell him). By the end, a splash of terror struck again, though not as intense as last time, and she renewed her grip on her purple friend. He had the common sense to return her embrace, patting her back.

"Wow..." he said, "Th-th-that's... scary!"

She meekly nodded in response.

"Sadness, I had- I had no idea. I'm so sorry you've had to go through this..."

"It's okay," she said, "It's what I have to do for Riley... it's my job, right now... s-so, really, I should just get used to it, right?"

"I... I don't know," he said as her arms unlatched and went back to her chest, clasped in contemplation. Fear's once more dropped to his sides like the twigs they were.

More silence enveloped them as they sat side-by-side at the stair's base. Eventually, though, Sadness spoke up again. "How do you do it?" she asked.

"What?"

"When you're on Dream Duty. How do you get through it? Especially during the scarier ones..."

"O-Oh," Fear muttered. His heartbeat picked up where it left off, gradually increasing as a new worry hit him - the fear of being embarrassed. "I-I-I just... y'know, I-"

"Is it that?" Sadness asked, pointing to the teddy bear.

Caught red handed. Fear inwardly cursed himself for bringing the bear along, but there was no use hiding it now, was there? He nervously chuckled. "W-Well, yeah, b-bu-but it's not a childish thing, really! It's actually pretty comforting." He held it up, inspecting it as he recalled all the nightmares it had seen him through, "I mean, it makes me feel brave, kinda... I-in my own silly way, heh."

"What do you mean?"

"I-I mean- I mean... look, when there's someone who's more scared than you, don't you feel braver by comparison, e-even if you're scared?"

Sadness hesitantly nodded. "I guess," she said.

"It's like that," Fear replied, "I use this teddy bear- w-well, it's, uh, it's my- it's my ant-nightmare device, and it really helps, so... yep."

"Oh..."

More quiet contemplation. As the two sat still, Fear looked at Sadness, considering her situation. _'How many days will you have to put up with this?'_ he thought, _'All while we're all nice and cozy in our beds, you're up here dealing with- with_ that? _It's not right. It's not fair, not at all...'_

He looked down at his teddy bear, then blinked curiously as an idea hit him. He looked over at his friend, then back to the bear. After all these years of Sadness helping him out, whether she knew it or not...

Well, maybe it was time to return the favor.

"Sadness?"

"Yeah?"

He handed her the bear without hesitation. "I-I want you to borrow this."

"Really?" she asked, looking at Fear in confused wonder. "You'd let me... you'd let me use it for Dream Duty?"

"Yes, yes!" he said, "I mean, you've... you've done so much for us all this time, e-even if we didn't appreciate it, so... really, it's the least I could do."

She quietly stared at the bear for only a heartbeat, then looked back to Fear. He noticed with a start that tears were crawling out of her eyes again. This was only an instant before she exploded into crying once more, burying her face into Fear's chest while the purple emotion looked helplessly down. Through muffled cries and pouts, he heard her say, "Thank you so much! You don't have any idea... you don't know what it's been like! Tha-ha-hank you!"

And so he sat there, content to let Sadness cry out her worries into his chest, if only for the few minutes she needed to. Gradually, the tears shut off and she stood up, sniffing. Fear made sure she'd be alright, and - happy to hear that she was through with Dream Duty for the evening - he walked with her back to the bedroom chamber, where they parted to their separate doors. "Goodnight," they said to eachother, and - soon enough - Fear was snuggled back under his blankets, feeling just as secure, just as warm, just as protected as before.

He fell asleep with a tiny grin on his face, content in the knowledge that he'd done something to help Sadness for once. Maybe, just maybe, she could see him as he saw her - a friend. That would be nice...


End file.
